Diffusers are well known in the art. Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary (1981) defines diffusers as "a device for reducing the velocity and increasing the static pressure of a fluid passing through a system". The present invention is concerned with the most typical of diffusers, those having an inlet cross-sectional flow area less than their outlet cross-sectional flow area. While a diffuser may be used specifically for the purpose of reducing fluid velocity or increasing fluid pressure, often they are used simply because of a physical requirement to increase the cross-sectional flow area of a passage, such as to connect pipes of different diameters.
As hereinafter used in this specification and appended claims, "diffuser" shall mean a fluid carrying passage which has an inlet cross-sectional flow area less than its outlet cross-sectional flow area, and which decreases the velocity of the fluid in the principal flow direction and increases its static pressure.
If the walls of the diffuser are too steep relative to the principal flow direction, streamwise, two-dimensional boundary layer separation may occur. Streamwise, two-dimensional boundary layer separation, as used in this specification and appended claims, means the breaking loose of the bulk fluid from the surface of a body, resulting in flow near the wall moving in a direction opposite the bulk fluid flow direction. Such separation results in high losses, low pressure recovery, and lower velocity reduction. When this happens the diffuser is said to have stalled. Stall occurs in diffusers when the momentum in the boundary layer cannot overcome the increase in pressure as it travels downstream along the wall, at which point the flow velocity near the wall actually reverses direction. From that point on the boundary layer cannot stay attached to the wall and a separation region downstream thereof is created.
To prevent stall a diffuser may have to be made longer so as to decrease the required diffusion angle; however, a longer diffusion length may not be acceptable in certain applications due to space or weight limitations, for example, and will not solve the problem in all circumstances. It is, therefore, highly desirable to be able to diffuse more rapidly (i.e., in a shorter distance) without stall or, conversely, to be able to diffuse to a greater cross-sectional flow area for a given diffuser length than is presently possible with diffusers of the prior art.
Diffusers of the prior art may be either two- or three-dimensional. Two-dimensional diffusers are typically four sided, with two opposing sides being parallel to each other and the other two opposing sides diverging from each other toward the diffuser outlet. Conical and annular diffusers are also sometimes referred to as two-dimensional diffusers Annular diffusers are often used in gas turbine engines. A three-dimensional diffuser can for example, be four sided, with both pairs of opposed sides diverging from each other.
One application for a diffuser is in a catalytic converter system for automobiles, trucks and the like. The converter is used to reduce exhaust emissions (nitrous oxides) and to oxidize carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons. The catalyst of choice is presently platinum Because platinum is so expensive it is important to utilize it efficiently, which means exposing a high surface area of platinum to the gases and having the residence time sufficiently long to do an acceptable job using the smallest amount of catalyst possible.
Currently the exhaust gases are carried to the converter in a cylindrical pipe or conduit having a cross sectional flow area of between about 2.5-5.0 square inches. The catalyst (in the form of a platinum coated ceramic monolith or a bed of coated ceramic pellets) is disposed within a conduit having, for example, an elliptical cross sectional flow area two to four times that of the circular inlet conduit. The inlet conduit and the catalyst containing conduit are joined by a diffusing section which transitions from circular to elliptical. Due to space limitations the diffusing section is very short; and its divergence half-angle may be as much as 45 degrees. Since flow separates from the wall when the half-angle exceeds about 7.0 degrees, the exhaust flow from the inlet pipe tends to remain a cylinder and, for the most part, impinges upon only a small portion of the elliptical inlet area of the catalyst. Due to this poor diffusion within the diffusing section there is uneven flow through the catalyst bed. These problems are discussed in a paper titled, Visualization of Automotive Catalytic Converter Internal Flows by Daniel W Wendland and William R. Matthes, SAE paper No. 861554 presented at the International Fuels and Lubricants Meeting and Exposition, Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 6-9, 1986. It is d.RTM.sired to be able to better diffuse the flow within such short lengths of diffusing section in order to make more efficient use of the platinum catalyst and thereby reduce the required amount of catalyst.